NHS England is ready to “virtually eliminate” the list of those who have waited more than two years for treatment, said the CEO, as patients are given the opportunity to be treated more quickly in hospitals in different parts of the country.
The number of people who have waited two years or more to receive treatment has dropped from a peak of 22,500 in January to 6,700 after the Covid-19 pandemic led to an increase in waiting lists.
Patients who remain on the waiting list wonder if they are ready to travel to receive treatment. More than 400 have agreed, with 140 being booked for surgery at another hospital.
The NHS’s chief executive of England, Amanda Pritchard, said: “As part of the largest and most ambitious catch-up program in NHS history, staff are on track to eliminate the two-year-old waiters by the end of July.
“But the NHS won’t stop there, from providing 1 million tests and inspections through our newly introduced community diagnostic centers to new state-of-the-art hip prostheses on the same day, staff are constantly looking for new and innovative ways to treat patients faster, especially those who wait a long time. “
The NHS said it would cover the cost of travel and patient accommodation “where appropriate”.
Three patients waiting to be treated at the University Hospitals of Derby and the Burton NHS foundation trust received treatment at the Northumbria Healthcare Foundation more than 100 miles away, and two more were booked.
Meanwhile, the Electoral Orthopedic Center in south-west London has treated 17 patients from the south-west of England, and another 11 are expected to receive treatment in the coming weeks.
However, patients who choose to wait longer, or patients in highly specialized areas who may require an individual plan, do not have to be treated until the end of July, the NHS warns.
The drop in waiting lists comes after May’s busiest emergency call, with 2.2 million emergency visits and nearly 78,000 of the most urgent ambulance calls.
Pritchard added: “One of the benefits of the NHS is that hospitals can work together to reduce Covid’s backlog, and so if people can and want to be treated faster elsewhere in the country, NHS staff ensures that this it can happen.
“Again, NHS employees demonstrate the flexibility, resilience and compassion they show when they are given the tools and resources they need to deliver to our patients.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “The National Health Service is making great progress in providing access to vital treatment for those who wait the longest, as part of our plan to eliminate Covid’s accumulation, reducing two-year waiting by two-thirds from January. .
“I announced a new choice for patients earlier this year and some of the longest waiters are already taking advantage of an alternative provider’s offer where they can be seen more quickly.
“Innovations like this are helping to tackle waiting lists and speed up access to treatment, backed by record investment, and there are more than 90 community diagnostic centers providing more than 1 million checks and scans in the last year.”
Saffron Corderi, interim executive director of NHS providers, said the health service was “approaching the goal” of clearing the gap for all people waiting more than two years for hospital care.
She told the BBC Breakfast: “The NHS is doing incredibly well and we see these numbers falling significantly week by week. “I never like to say ‘Yes, it will definitely happen,’ but I think it’s proof of the hard work of trust leaders up and down the country that we’re getting closer to that point.”
Asked about the invitation to more nurses, she said: “We have known for a long time that the workforce is a significant challenge. I think one of the things we need to remember is that the challenges we face now, after the pandemic, existed before the pandemic, and the pandemic has just exacerbated them.
“So we have funding challenges that come from a decade of funding cuts; demand is already growing before the pandemic; we have had the social welfare challenges we have now and they are increasing significantly.
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“But we also have this shortage of labor, which is incredibly serious.
“We have called on the government to create a fully funded and cost-effective long-term workforce plan so that we can solve this once and for all, but we know that there are major challenges in the nursing workforce, the medical workforce and other parts of the NHS staff structure.” .
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